Method and means for saturating fibrous materials in the production of prepared roofing materials



July 28, 1931. R M N 1,816,596

METHOD AND MEANS FOR SATURATING FIBROUS MATERIALS IN THE PRODUCTION OF PREPARED ROOFING MATERIALS Filed April 8, 1926 v 4 Sheets-Sheet l Sf/LL July 28, 1931. 'R. MACLEAN 1,816,596

METHOD AND MEANS FOR SATURATING FIBROUS MATERIALS IN THE PRODUCTION OF PREPARED ROOFING MATERIALS Filed April 8, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Hear-s1? July 28, 1931. MA EAN 1,816,596

METHOD AND MEANS FOR SATU A ING FIBROUS MATERIALS IN THE PRODUCTION OF PREPARED ROOFING MATERIALS Filed April 8, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 lllllllllll furs-afar zwerz flzacZean/ y 1931- T R. MACLEAN ,816,596

METHOD AND MEANS FOR SATURATING FIBROUS MATERIALS IN THE PRODUCTION OF PREPARED ROOFING MATERIALS Filed April 8, 1926 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 H. In: Il l II Patented July 28, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT orrlcs ROBERT MACLEAN,'OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO AMALGAMATED ROOFING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS METHOD AND MEANS FOR SATURATING FIBROUS MATERIALS IN' THE PBODOCTION OF PREPARED ROOFING MATEBIAH Application filed April- 8,

Myinvention relates to improvements in method and means for saturating fibrous materials in the production of prepared roofing materials. At the present time, im-

5 mense uantities of prepared roofing, either in the iorm of roll roofing or shingles, are being manufactured. Such roofing comprises a base of felt paper, or other similar fibrous material, that is impregnated, or

saturated, with a moisture repellent.

The process that is. ,in general use for impregnating felt paper makes use of one or more comparatively large tanks for holding a supply of heated saturant. The stri of paper 1s passed through these tanks, an

in order to insure the complete saturation of the paper it is passed up and down in the tank over .a series of rollers. Sometimes, and particularl with the heavier ades of felt paper, suc as are used for t e better grades of shingles, the felt aper is first passed through a tank in WhlCh the liquid saturant is comparatively light and then passed through a second tank in which the 5 saturant becomes fluid at considerably higher temperature than the saturant in the first tank.

The tanks employed in the old process are quite expensive and this is particularly true 0 where it is desired to impregnate per with excessively heavy saturant. Suc 'a saturant, with the methods at resent in use, requires a very considerab e period of time to penetrate through the felt papers, and

particularly so when the felt papers are comparatively thick. This means either that the speed at which the paper strip to be saturated passes through the saturating mechanism must be reduced, or the tanks themselves must be made quite long in order to give the saturant time topenetrate throu 'h the entire thickness of the felt aper strip.

The principal object of my invention is to produce a method and means for saturating strips of fibrous material such as are used for making prepared roofing, that will considerably reduce the cost of the mechanism required and the expense of operating the mechanism.

Another object of my invention is to pro- 1920. Serial 110. 100,886.

Other objects 0 my invention will ap- I pear as this description progresses, reference bein had to the accompanying drawings, in w ich Figure 1 is a more or less diagrammatic view, illustrating in improved means for carrying out the met 0d disclosed herein;

F1gure2 is a central, vertical section through which an installation embodying my invention, portions thereof being broken away for the purpose of better illustration;

Figure 3 is a sectional detail on an lar ed scale; I

igure 4 is a sectional detail of one of the nozzles used for spraying the saturant upon the felt paper strip;

Figure 5 is a section taken on line 5-5 of Figure 1, showing certain details of con- 'struction of the piping system;

Fi ure 6 is a section similar to Figure 2, but s owing a modified formof my inven tion;

Figure 7 is a plan view of still another modification of my invention; and

Figure 8 is a sectional detail taken on line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Throughout the several views similar reference characters are used for referring to similar parts;

In Figure 1 I have disclosed, diagrammatically, atplant consisting of two units, one for saturating the stri with comparativel light saturants and t e other for saturatmg the strip with heavier saturants, the strip havingfirstv been saturated with lighter saturants while passing throughthe first unit.

Each unit comprises a still 10 in which the viscous saturant is heated up to a point at which it is more or less fluid, but notso hot that it will flash when it comes in contact with the air. A pipe 11, having a suitable force pump 12 therein, conducts the liquid saturant from the still to the receiving tank 13'. The discharge of the pump 12 is regulated so as to maintain a'level of saturant in the tank 13 above the outlet pipe 14. A pump 15 in this pipe forces the saturant into the heater'lG where the saturant is kept under the proper temperature for best results. This temperature is, of course, determinedby the character of the saturant itself and, as stated above, it should not be heated to a temperature too close to its flashing point. A discharge pipe 17 leads from the heater 16 and terminates in a number of branches 18, each of which is con nected with a manifold 19 that supplies the liquid saturant to a series of spray, or .vent, nozzles 20 secured in-its lower side. I

.Means are provided for drawing a strip 21 of roofing material beneath the sprays, or vents, produced by the nozzles 20. ThlS means can be of any suitable character, but is here shown as comprising two rolls 22 for Withdrawing the paper strip from a looping mechanism, the details of which are well known to those skilled in this art. Preferably, these rolls are hollow and means are provided for admitting steam to their interior and for withdrawing condensed water therefrom in a manner well known to those skilled in this art, so as to heat the paper strip before it passes through the remainder of the saturating mechanism.

This heating is for the purpose of displacing some of the occluded air in the strip so as to enable the saturant more readil to penetrate entirely through the strip. Two other rolls 23 may be used for drawing the strip through the saturating mechanism and these rolls may, if desired, comprise means for supplying cooling fluid to their interior for the purpose of cooling the saturant with which the strip has just been im regnated. Suitable supports 24 may be p aced 'over each receiving tank for supporting the strip against the pressure exerted by the jets issuing from the nozzles 20.

The tanks 13 may, as shown in Figure 2, comprise an outer wall of brick, or other suitable material, and a lining 13' of suitable sheet metal. The support for the strip coniprises a air of spaced rollers 25, the ,o

osite on s of which are mounted in suitab e arings, and between these rollers I prefer suitably to support a strip of screen 26 that will form a firm support for the traveling strip, but at the same time permit the ready flow of excess saturant into the tank 13'.

For the purpose of confining the fine spray from the jet nozzles that might otherwise escape, I prefer to enclose the manifolds and-nozzles in a suitable metallic shield 27, and for the purpose of preventing injury to the workmen, that might result from a sudden flash escaping from the tank 13 or the shield 27, i provide each tank with an inverted bowl-shaped enclosure 28, the edges of which extend down to a point ad'acent the plane of the top of the tank 13, ut inwhich the ends-2 8 extend downwardly to form bafiles adjacent to, but spaced from, the corresponding ends of the tank .13. These baflles are referably spaced suflicient- 1y from the en scof the tank to enable a workman to gain access 0 the tank. whenever it is necessary, for t e sake of inspectionor'repairs, to do so. I

Reference to Figure 3 shows that one of the branch pipes 18 .is'connected with the manifold at a point substantiall midway between the ends of the manifol and that the latter increases in cross section toward the center. This is to insure, as much as 'possible,,an even distribution of pressure upon the jets issuing. from the nozzles. The

nozzles themselvesare of well known construction, comprising a bowl-shaped element 29 that is screwed into the lower side of the manifold and a jet piece 30, having an outwardly flaring de ression 31 in its outer face and a conically-s a ed inner end 32-. Two jet openings 33.1ea from the bowl 29 into the depression 31. These openin s are placed at an angle to each other so t at the jets paper, so that together they produce'a jet, or

spray, t'at is at least as wide as the strip of feltthat is being saturated.

The number of manifolds required to insure thorough satauration of the felt will vary with the character of'the saturant and the thickness of the felt, it being understood that more manifolds are required for saturating a heavy felt with a heavy saturant than would be required for saturating a light felt with a light saturant. The numibe lrequired can readily bedeterminedby me used, I prefer to sta gerthe' nozzles in each of the manifolds wit those of the adjacent manifolds andthereby insure the greatest degree of uniformity in applying the saturant to the strip.

From-the above description it will be a -i parent that in operating the plant shown in When more than one manifold is plement the action of'the first unit, that is, the felt'strip will first be passed through the unit at the left-hand side of Figure 1, where it will be saturated with a comparatively light saturant, and will then pass to the unit shown at the right-hand side of Figure 1, where it will be treated with a heavier saturant.

From the above description it will be apparent that the velocity with which the sprays, or jets, issuing from the nozzles 20 impinge upon the strip 21, passing through the saturating mechanism, will depend upon the pressure maintained in the heater 16 by the pump 15. Preferably, this pump is of the so-called gear type. The velocity of the jets, or sprays, issuing from the nozzles 20, can be'of such an order of magnitude that the pressure resulting from the impinging of these jets upon the strip of felt can be made much greater than the pressure due to the head of saturant maintained in the tanks under the present method of saturating roofing felts. This means not only that with the lighter saturants the rate at which the strip can be impregnated can be in.- creased, but that due to this increased pressure heavier saturants can be used successfully. This is of very considerable importance in the manufacture of prepared roofing shingles.

Inasmuch as slight cooling of the saturants employed very considerably increases their wiscosity, I prefer to enclose all of the piping in a steam jacket formed by an outer pipe such as 11' (see Figure 5), so as to enable the pipes carrying the saturant to be heated by steam supplied through a pipe 34, or in any other desired manner. The condensate from this heating system may be discharged through suitable valves 35. This steam jacketing system preferably includes the pumps 12 and 15.

In that form of my invention described above, whenever there is a temporary interruption in the operation of the spray nozzles there is a tendency for the saturant to congeal in the passageways of the nozzles and when it is desired to resume operations it requires some time to clear the congealed saturant from the nozzles. In order to avoid this loss of time I have, in Figure 6, shown means whereby the nozzles can be immersed in the hot fluid saturant contained in the tank 13. In order to do this, I insert flexible, hollow ball joints 36 and 37 in the pipe 17. The joint 37 is positioned in what is normally the vertical position of the pipe 17 so as to permit the shield 27, the rollers 25, the screen 26 and the supporting members 38 to be swung into a position substantially parallel with the'length of the tank 13 and then dropped downwardly to the position shown in Figure 6, in which the nozzles, the screen, the rollers and all other parts on which saturant might tend to collect and harden are submerged in the hot liquid saturant. When it is desired to resume operations, the pipe-17 and the parts just enumerated can be raised to their normal position and the screen, rollers, shield, nozzles, etc., swung to their normal positions.

In order to assist the workmen in manipulating the parts just referred to, I prefer to suspend the pipe 17 and its associated parts by means 0 a rope or cable 39 passing through a pulley 40 supported from the enclosure 28. The end 0 this cable may be passed around a suitable anchor block 4-1 and the cable itself may be provided with a suitable stop 42 for limiting the downward movement of the pipe 17 and its associated parts.

With the construction shown in Figure 6 it is necessary to remove the felt strip from over the rollers 25 and screen 26 in order to permit these elements to be submerged in the tank 13 and it is sometimes inconvenient thus to remove the strip. In Figures 7 and 8 I have disclosed means whereby the nozzles and shield can be submerged without the necessity of removing the strip from the rollers, screen and the top of the tank. In this form of my invention I provide the tank 13 with a lateral extension 13a that is deep enough to hold a sufficient depth of saturant to submerge the nozzles, as shown in Figure 8. Here the pipe 17 is again provided with the flexible, hollow ball joints 36 and 37, so as to permit the shield and nozzles to be turned to a position substantially parallel with the length of the tank and then dropped into the lateral extension 13a, as shown in Figures 7 and 8. It will, of course, be understood that in this modification of my invention I prefer to make use of a cable and pulley arrangement, such as shown in Figure 6, to enable the workmen to raise and lower the nozzles into and out of position. In this form of my invention, the nozzle assembly and shield merely rest upon the framework that supports the screen and rollers and are separable therefrom.

In all the different forms of my invention disclosed herein I prefer to make use of a pump 15, the speed of which can be raised or lowered'so as to change the quantity of material discharged by it. In this man: ner, whenever the operation of the saturating machine is temporarily slowed up, or

entirely interrupted, the quantity of saturant discharged through the nozzles can be materially reduced, and preferably re duced to such a quantity that it will merely insure keeping the nozzles open.

While I have described the details of construction of my improved mechanism and the details of my improved method, it

is to be understood that my invention -is not limited to these details, but is capable of other adaptations and modifications within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is: v

1. Means for saturating a strip of roofing felt comprising a tank, means positioned near the top of said tank for supporting said strip, nozzle means for spraying saturant onto said strip, said tank being arranged to receive the excess saturant flowing from said nozzle means,'said nozzle means being movable relatively to said tank, and means vby which said nozzle means can be lowered into and raised from said tank without'disturbing said strip.

2. Means for saturating a strip of roofing felt comprising a tank, means positioned near the top of said tank for supporting said strip, nozzle means for spraying saturant onto said strip, said' tankbein arranged to rece ve the excess saturant owmg from said nozzle means, said nozzle means being movable relatively to said tank, and means by which said nozzle means can be lowered into and raised. from said tank.

3. Means for saturating a strip of roofing felt comprising means for advancing said strip, nozzle means for spraying saturant onto said strip, a tank for receiving excess saturant from said nozzle means, said nozzle means being movable relatively to said tank, and means by which said nozzle means can be lowered into or withdrawn from said'tank.

4. Means for saturating a strip of roofing felt comprising means for advancing said strip, nozzle means for spraying saturant onto said strip, and means for immersing said nozzle means into hot saturant for the purpose of preventing the saturant from hardenin in said nozzle means.

. In witness w -ereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 6th day of April, 1926.

ROBERT MAOLEAN. 

